European Union warns tech companies of incoming child sex abuse rules

The legislation would require tech companies to report child sexual abuse material to authorities

A senior European Union official is heading to San Francisco this week to warn tech firms that legislation compelling them to help combat child sexual abuse content is coming. 

The legislation, which she plans to propose this spring, would require tech companies to report child sexual abuse material to authorities and would create a new European entity similar to the U.S.’s National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson said Monday. 

“Dialogue is not enough. We also need legislation, and we need to make it mandatory,” Johansson said in an interview with Bloomberg News. “This is really the role for the European Union to set the standards on regulation here, both the protection of privacy, but also the privacy of children.”